F 



^"^T^^'-^m, 



BUocA, RicUav^cl. 



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vv>Cvit ^^ ^^^ 



1753 






B^^^Klyv>, ^^^- 





Class. 
Book 






J 






WINNOWINGS IN AMERICAN HISTORY. 



VIRGINIA TRACTS. 
No. I. 



250 copies printed. 

No. y jV 



■/ 



A Fragment on the Pistole 
Fee, claimed by the Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, 1753. 



RICHARD BLAND. 



EDITED BY 

WORTHINGTON CHAUNCEY FORD. 



BROOKLYN, N. Y. : 

Historical Printing Club. 

1891. 



^76 79 a, 

»0 3 



c « c "^ 



Virginia has been unfortunate in 
neglecting her history until the ma- 
terial for it has been largely scattered 
or destroyed. Names that would have 
been prominent in her colonial and 
revolutionary history, in council as 
well as field, have left so little behind 
them besides a vague and general 
reputation, that their mention conveys 
little of definiteness, even to those 
versed in the subject. In no colony 
was the aristocratic feeling stronger, 
and in no colony was the contest be- 
tween an established aristocracy and 
a rising democracy more bitter and 
intense. Yet the details of the strug- 
gle are almost unknown, and what 
little has been preserved is lost in the 
wider sphere of the nation's history. 
It is with a wish to contribute a little 
to bringing together the remains of an 
exceedingly interesting social and po- 
litical struggle, that I have used every 
opportunity offered to obtain copies of 
(5) 



manuscripts, valuable from their con- 
nection with Virginia history. In this 
task, I have found an active and inter- 
ested coadjutor in Mr. Cassius Francis 
Lee, Jr., of Alexandria, to whose valu- 
able aid I wish to pay this general 
tribute ; for he has been exceedingly 
generous not only with his own col- 
lection, but in seeking others for my 
endeavor. The fruits of this labor will 
be the issue of the writings of the three 
Lee brothers — Richard Henry, Wil- 
liam and Arthur — now in press. In 
making those larger collections, many 
stray letters came to my notice, de- 
serving preservation in a more perma- 
nent form, and these will constitute a 
Virginia series in the " Winnowings." 
The first number is the fragment by 
Richand Bland on the demand of 
Governor Dinwiddie of a fee for land 
patents. 

Robert Dinwiddie was destined to 
be unpopular from his first act as Gov- 
ernor to the last. However welcome 
he may have been to the large and 
rapidly increasing number of dissenters 



in the colony, being himself one of the 
Church of Scotland, he soon ran coun- 
ter to the ruling opinion of the politi- 
cal leaders. His attempt to carry out 
his instructions brought out a re- 
monstrance from the Burgesses, who 
claimed he was exercising unjustly 
the royal prerogative (1752); and his 
revival of a land fee, long allowed 
to slumber, excited a general feeling 
against him. Virginians had for many 
years acquired new land by means of 
a warrant of survey, without a patent 
or expense. In this way they escaped 
the payment of any fee for a formal 
grant, and could enjoy the use of the 
land without paying a quit rent to the 
government. It is said that a million 
of acres were claimed under such ten- 
ure when Dinwiddie came into the 
governorship. Acting with the advice 
of his council, Dinwiddie established a 
fee of a pistole for every seal annexed to 
each grant, a charge that was at once 
questioned by the Burgesses, as an 
"extraordinary fee," and they wished 
to know his authority for the imposi- 



8 



tion.* The Governor, deprecating the 
idea that he could do anything that 
was contrary to the welfare of the 
colony or to his orders, asserted his 
instructions and the advice of his 
council. This was an opportunity not 
to be lost by the Burgesses, and as 
upholders of the public good they 
protested that the fee was demanded 
under no known law, was an infringe- 
ment of the rights of the people, and 
a grievance highly to be complained 
of; that a former use of the seal to 
extract a fee had been condemned as 
** uneasy and burthensome to the col- 
ony," since which time no other fee 
had been charged than was estab- 
lished by law ; that his honor's " in- 
sisting on the same, will, in our hum- 
ble opinion, be an infringement of the 
rights of the People, a great discour- 
agement to the settling the Frontiers 
of the Colony, and a Prejudice to his 
M j's revenue of Quit rents, we think 
it our indispensible Duty to desire 
that y'r Honor will recede from your 

* Dinwiddie Papers ^ I, 44. 



demands.'"^ In reply the Governor 
urged that he was acting within his. 
powers^ and for the good of the col- 
ony. He shortly afterwards prorogued 
the Assembly. 

The Burgesses, however, were far 
from being contented with the Gov- 
ernor's reply, and prepared an address 
to his Majesty in regard to the fee, 
and passed some resolutions "very 
much in a Republican way of Think- 
ing," and, according to the Governor, 
having enjoyed too great license under 
a former administration, doubtless a 
sly hit at Gooch, who had " submitted 
too much" to the legislature, did not 
act in a "proper constitutional way."t 
They passed a bill, it is true, granting 
money for the defence of the western 
frontier, then threatened by the French 
occup^ition, but they did it in such a 
way that the Governor would have 
vetoed it, were not the crisis import- 
ant and interesting; and to still fur- 
ther show their " want of reason and 

* Dinwiddle Papers, I, 46, 47. 
^Dinwiddle Papers ^11, 100, 10 1. 



lO 



moderation," they sent the Attorney 
General of the colony, Peyton Ran- 
dolph, to London, to argue the pistole 
fee before the Board of Trade, grant- 
ing him ^2500 for the mission, to be 
paid without the concurrence of the 
other branches of the legislature. The 
Speaker, who was also Treasurer, is 
reported to have said he would pay 
the money if the House should so re- 
solve. Dmwiddie supposed Randolph 
was selected, because of their regard- 
ing him as an enemy of the Governor, 
and one who would go to length 
against him. If so, he added, " I pity 
their ignorance, and narrow, ill- 
natured spirits."* 

The Governor also thought that 
there was a religious element in the 
agitation, for Randolph was connected 
with Stith. The people, wrote the 
Governor, were always " very easy and 
well satisfied till an evil spirit entered 
into a High Priest, who was supported 
by the Family of the Randolphs, and 
a few more, who by unjust meth- 

* Dtmviddie Papers, I03. 



II 



ods, fired the House of Burgesses to 
act very inconsistently." 

The pains taken to stir up the peo- 
ple on the subject soon led the Gov- 
ernor to regret that he had ever made 
the demand, although he could quote 
the support of his council, of the 
Board of Trade, and of Sir Dudley 
Ryder, an English lawyer of high 
standing. In England, also, the de- 
mand and the Governor's plea became 
common talk at the Coffee Houses — 
the hot-beds of gossip — thanks to 
Randolph's efforts to put the affair in 
a popular light. An "unjust" adver- 
tisement of the controversy was in- 
serted in the Gazettes, which repre- 
sented the fee as driving foreigners 
from the country, preventing immi- 
gration, and depriving servants, who 
had served their time, of the right to 
take up fifty acres, " which will always 
be granted without that fee;" replied 
Dinwiddle; "but I know no applica- 
tion on that head since my arrival ; 
for if they did apply, it would be to 
lands far back, that are not worth 



12 



taking up in such quantities." The 
pistole was represented as a tax^ an 
odious word, instead of 3. fee estab- 
lished by law for a given service. 
Then came the official representation. 
'* In behalf of the Governor the debate 
was conducted by Murray, afterwards 
Earl of Mansfield, and Mr. Campbell : 
in behalf of the colony by Healey, 
since Lord Worthington, and For- 
rester. With an indelicacy foreign to 
the temper and manner of Murray, 
and with a brutal insolence congenial 
to those of Campbell, the exaction was 
palliated by their genius, and finally 
supported by the council of the King. 
The King was at one time compared 
to a private land-holder, who might 
modify his terms with the mercenary 
dexterity of a huckster. But when 
the trustee of Virginia was for her 
domains, how could he affix a real tax 
upon them without the assent of the 
legislature, was forgotten to be proved, 
if indeed it was not designedly waived 
by the illustrious Mansfield. Camp- 
bell remembered that the mere name 



13 



of rebellion might be worthy because 
an operative resource of argument. 
He did not hesitate to charge Vir- 
ginia, tractable as she was, with enter- 
taining views beyond the rescinding 
of a paltry fee." * 

In May, 1754, the agent was re- 
ported to have gained all that he was 
sent to demand from the authorities 
in England; but the Governor felt 
easy, because he thought the Board of 
Trade could decide the question in 
only one way, and that in his favor. 
In this he was correct, for the Privy 
Council, after hearing the arguments 
on both sides, recommended a com- 
promise, without reflecting, as Chal- 
mers says, " that every disputed right 
is relinquished by concession." f 

No fee was to be charged for a grant 
of land under 100 acres, or for lands 
lying westward of the mountains, or 
on lands the survey of which had been 
filed in the Secretary's office before 

* Edmund Randolph. 

\ History of the Revolt of the American Col- 
4>nies, ii. 35. 



14 



April, 1752. It was this last item that 
was the chief cause of dispute between 
the Governor and the Burgesses, for 
he held that at least the quit-rents, due 
sometimes for years of occupancy, 
should be paid before the patent was 
sealed and issued, confirming the title. 
" It has been too long a practice here, 
to have orders for land, return their 
surveys, works, and improvements to 
the Secretary's office, by which they 
pretend to a legal right, and enjoy the 
lands for years before they take out a 
patent for them, by which the Crown 
has been greatly defrauded." But the 
bitterest dose for the Governor was 
the order from the Board of Trade to 
restore Randolph to office, **as the 
times require that harmony and con- 
fidence should be everywhere estab- 
lished." How ungracefully he obeyed 
is shown in his correspondence. "Your 
kind favor to Mr. R. in recommend- 
ing him to me to re-instate him in the 
post of Attorney General, is very con- 
descending. When I consider the ar- 
guments I made use of to him not to 



15 

undertake that inconsistent duty, and 
the many unjust and false reflections 
on me personally in the public papers, 
makes this recommendation very dis- 
agreeable to me; however, for the 
reasons your Lordships are pleased to 
assign, which are both just and neces- 
sary, on his arrival, if he, in a decent 
and proper manner, makes acknowl- 
edgment of his errors, and promise 
of more regular conduct for the fu- 
ture, I shall be glad of every opportu- 
nity to moderate the heats of the 
people at this dangerous time.* He 
thought Randolph's conduct ungrate- 
ful, for he had given him a greater 
share of his favor and countenance 
than any other in the Government. 

Another person who had fallen un- 
der Dinwiddie's displeasure was the 
Speaker of the House and Treasurer 
of the colony, John Robinson. This 
double office gave him powers over 
the money matters of the colony that 
were too great in the Governor's opin- 
ion, and in the end, too great for 

*Dinwiddie Papers, 363. 



i6 



Robinson's character. As Speaker he 
could control legislation, and as Treas- 
urer he could take it upon himself to 
pay out money without the concur- 
rence of the Governor, Council or 
Burgesses, acting under a resolve of 
the Burgesses alone. That this was 
conduct contrary to the spirit of the 
government of the colony cannot be 
denied; and as one of the leaders of the 
House, Robinson inspired Dinwiddie 
with a dislike of him that soon ripened 
into distrust. When the matter of 
Randolph's wages came before the 
House, party spirit ran high, and in 
opposition to the Governor. 

An appropriation bill for i^20,000 
for the defence of the frontiers gave 
the opportunity for tacking on as a 
rider the ;^2,500 due Randolph. The 
Council rejected the whole bill, and 
the Burgesses determined not to pass 
the vote of supply without it; and the 
bill was again before the Council, 
where, according to the Governor, 
" some of that Board are not so con- 
sistent as I could wish," and he was 



«; 



doubtful if they would vote against 
the bill as they did against the resolve. 
The rider was properly a private 
measure, and if insisted on, must 
compel the Governor to reject the 
whole in spite of the urgency. " There 
is such a Party and spirit of opposi- 
tion in the lower House that it is not 
in the Power of the Governor to sup- 
press, unless he is to prostrate the 
rules of Government, and act incon- 
sistent with his Instructions. I have 
really gone thorow monstrous fatigues, 
which I should not much regard if I 
could answer the commands of his 
Majesty, but such wrong headed Peo- 
ple (I thank God) I never had to do 
with before."* The wrong-headed- 
ness continued, and the Governor 
prorogued the Assembly, hoping that 
a month of sober thought would cool 
its factious .spirit. "A Governor," 
sighed Dinwiddie, "is really to be 
pitied in the discharge of his duty to 
his King and country, in having to 
do with such obstinate, self-conceited 

*JJinwidJie Papers^ 300. 



|8 



People." In the next session, not 
only were supplies voted without the 
obnoxious rider, but the Speaker 
waited upon the Governor, " acknowl- 
edged the great ill manners shown 
me by their House, and begged my 
pardon, which I granted, and I think 
we are now on a very good footing, 
which I desire may long continue, 
and surely it will be their own faults 
if it does not, as I shall now continue 
to do everything in my power to 
establish it, agreeable to instructions." 
When Randolph sailed for England, 
the Governor had depriv^ed him of his 
office of Attorney General, and ap- 
pointed George Wythe in the place. 
**But as the habits of a seducing and 
of a not wholly unambitious profes^ 
sion never warped him from friend- 
ship or patriotism, he [Wythe] ac- 
cepted the commission with the cus- 
tomary professions of gratitude, not 
disclosing his secret and honorable 
determination that he would resign it 
to his predecessor on his return."* 

* Edmund Randolph. 



19 

Randolph made his submission, was 
reinstated in office, and the pistole 
fee was collected under the new in- 
structions from England, until the 
increasing discontents in the colony- 
led to its reduction by one-half. 

What occurred in the colonies dur- 
ing the dispute can only be conjec- 
tured from a k\v scattered sentences 
in the Governor's letters, for there 
exists no file of the Virginia Gazette, 
in whose columns the partisans of 
both sides must have inserted their 
views and peppery "open letters." 
One fragment — a manuscript — has es- 
caped destruction, written by Richard 
Bland, a man of political prominence 
in his day, and of bookish tastes.* 
He was born May 6, 1710, studied at 
William and Mary, and completed his 
education at the University of Edin- 
burgh. Entering the House of Bur- 
gesses in 1745, he became one of the 
leading members. Being readier with 
the pen than he was with the tongue, 
he is better known by the two or 

*John Adams ko described h.m. 



20 



three controversial pamphlets that 
have come down to us, than by tra- 
ditions of his learning or eloquence. 
Grigsby says, " his great learning lay 
in the field of British history in its 
largest sense; and especially in that 
of Virginia. With all her ancient 
charters, and with her acts of As- 
sembly, in passing which for nearly a 
third of a century he had a voice, he 
was familiar; and in this department 
he may be said to have stood supreme. 
When a great occasion 



occurred, a tract from his pen was 
looked for and hailed as a chart of 
the times." * 

His first venture in controversy of 
which we have record, was his ** Let- 
ter to the Clergy of Virginia," in 
which he took the side of the Gover- 
nor and Assembly against the clergy, 
in the famous Two-penny contest, in- 
volving an attack upon Church prop- 
erty in Virginia by the legislature. 
The tract was sent to London to show 
"to what a pitch of insolence many 

* Tin Virginia Convention of lyyd, 57. 



21 



are arrived at, not only against our 
most worthy diocesan [the Bishop of 
London] and the clergy, but likewise 
against his Majesty's most Honorable 
Privy Council. Such dispositions to 
ferment and encourage disaffection to 
the church and clergy, if suffered to 
proceed, may at a crisis, bring about 
such a change in our religion as may 
alter the Constitution of the State." * 
The people welcomed the pamphlet 
with much applause, but the clergy 
wondered at Bland's effrontery in ad- 
vancing such " palpable untruths." 
"What name does he deserve, who 
has dared to publish inventions of his 
own against plain matters of fact? 
Truly a name so abhor'd, that it finds 
not room in Civil conversation." He 
was a *' forward apologizer" for the 
Assembly, and his pamphlet was 
"scurrilous," "making up with false 
personal accusation, calumny and rail- 
ing, what they wanted with respect to 
reason and argument." And at this 

* ly/u. Robinson to the Bishop of [London ?} 
20 November, 1760, Perry's Church in Virginia. 



22 



day it must generally be admitted that 
the clergy had the right of the ques- 
tion on their side: and that Lord 
Hardwick gave good judgment when 
he said that "there was no occasion to 
dispute about the authority by which 
the act was passed, for that no court 
in the judicature whatever, could look 
upon it to be law, by reason of its 
manifest injustice alone." 

Nor was this the only tract that 
Bland composed on church questions, 
showing that the anathemas of the 
clergy did not much affect him. Roger 
Atkinson asserts that he wrote a treat- 
ise against the Quakers on water bap- 
tism. In 1770, on the authority of 
Governor Tazewell, he wrote against 
the American Episcopate, and at least 
was, with Richard Henry Lee, de- 
puted by the Burgesses to thank cer- 
tain clergymen for their opposition to 
that scheme — the "pernicious project 
of a few mistaken clergymen."* Tra- 
dition has also ascribed to him a tract 
on the tenures of land in Virginia, now 

*Burk, History of Virginia, III, 365. 



2.1 



ndt to be identified. Gould it have 
been the complete letter on this pistole 
fee, of which the fragment is here 
given? Rumor also asserted that he 
had been collecting materials for a 
history of Virginia. *' He was very 
Competent to the undertaking, being a 
man of erudition and intelligence;"* 
and his methods were distinctly mod^ 
ern, for he had learned the art of bor- 
rowing books, and omitting the for- 
mality of returning them.f He was 
generally known as the ''Antiquary." 
A man of property and importance 
in the colony, he took his place by the 
side of Pendleton, Wythe, Landon Car- 
ter, and Peyton Randolph, who were 
almost conservatives m the troublous 
period following the stamp act. Not 
that he was inactive on the side of the 
colonies. He was one of the commit- 
tee to draw up an address to the King, 
a memorial to the House of Lords, 
and a remonstrance to the Commons, 
&n the proposed Stamp act, but op- 

* IVashingion to Jeremy Belknap, 15 June, 1798. 
\The Virginia Company, I, viii. 



24 



posed the hot-headed action intended 
when the act had become a law. In 
1 766 he pubhshed an *' Inquiry into the 
Rights of the British Colonies; in- 
tended as an answer to *The Regu- 
lations lately made concerning the 
Colonies, and the Taxes imposed upon 
them considered/" a tract that was 
well received on both sides of the 
Atlantic. In 1769-70 he signed the 
resolutions of non-importation, and 
three years later was one of the com- 
mittee of correspondence and inquiry 
of the Colony.* In 1774 he was sent 
to the first Continental Congress in 
the notable Virginia delegation, and 
asserted that " he would have gone up 
on this occasion, if it had been to 
Jericho." t Roger Atkinson described 
him at this time as a "wary, old, ex- 
perienced veteran of the bar and in 
the senate; has something of the look 

*The proceedings of this committee have just 
been published in Vol. viii., of the Calendar of 
Virginia State Papers^ — a noble series, that every 
Stale should imitate. 

\ John Adams' Diary. 



25 



of old musty parchments such as he 
handleth and studieth much."* 

Returning from this Congress, he 
took his seat in the Virginia Conven- 
tion, and asked that certain *' false and 
scandalous reports" highly reflecting 
on him in his public character, might 
be examined ; " to wit : that he had 
made application to the Earl of Dart- 
mouth, or some of the Ministry, to an 
appointment to collect the taxes im- 
posed on America by Parliament; and 
that as an inducement to them to 
grant the same, had promised to pro- 
mote the Designs of the Ministry 
against America; and also, that his 
conduct in General Congress had been 
such that he was obliged suddenly to 
decamp from the city of Philadelphia. 
That he had served as a member of 
the General Assembly for upwards of 
thirty years, and hoped the part he 
had always taken would have secured 
him, in his age, from an imputation 

* Mende, Old Churches and Families of Vir- 
ginia, I, 220. 



26 



so injurious to his character." * Six 
days later the Convention examined 
into these charges and after a full in- 
quiry, found the "said reports to be 
utterly false and groundless, and tend- 
ing not only to injure the said Rich- 
ard Bland in his public character, but 
to prejudice the glorious cause in 
which America is now embarked," 
and unanimously resolved to bear to 
the world its testimony that Bland 
had manifested himself the friend of 
his country, and uniformly stood forth 
an able asserter of her rights and 
liberties, f 

* Virginia Convention, 22 July, 1775. 

\ From the fact that the Convention directed a 
copy of this resolve to he forwarded to Arthur Lee, 
in London, the charges against Bland may have 
originated there, and the I\ev. Samuel Siiield, the 
Rev. John Hurt, Samuel Overton, and Joseph 
Smith, "propagators" of the charges, were merely 
repeatersof what had been communicated to them. 
One Samuel Overton was captain of a company of 
militia raised in Hanover county in 1755. It was 
before this company that the Rev. Samuel Davis 
delivered a sernion in this year, containing the re- 
markable prediction about Washington: "that 
heroic youtli, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot 



27 



In this Convention, Bland was of 
no little importance, being the chair- 
man of the committee of the whole 
House, when sitting on the state of 
the Colony. On August nth he was 
chosen a delegate to the second Con- 
tinental Congress, standing sixth on 
the list, but on the next day he begged 
to be excused on account of his ad- 
vanced age and loss of sight. His 
request was granted, and a handsome 
testimonial of approbation and regard 
voted him. This did not involve a 
retirement, for a few days later he was 
chosen a member of the important 
Committee of Safety — a body that 
possessed powers of a revolutionary 

but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so. 
signal a manner for some important service for 
his country." — Sermons, iii., 58. 

Arthur Lee, in his capacity of intelligencer, 
was singularly rash in his charges against leading 
characters. Some of the instances were Joseph 
Reed, John Langdon, John Jay, and perhaps he 
had communicated the suspicions against Bland. 
The office of spy is not calculated for a man natur- 
ally suspicious and hot headed. A letter of Rich- 
ard Blan<l, dated 25 July, 1775, on this matter, is 
to be found in the Bland Papers, i., 36. 



28 



scope, and constituted the executive of 
the Colony in the interim between the 
flight of Lord Dunmoreand the fram- 
ing of a written constitution. Sitting 
in daily session until July 5th, 177^* 
this committee was busily employed 
in disbursing money for the equip- 
ment of troops, deciding questions of 
general policy or personal appeals^ 
and corresponding with the State and 
Continental officers."^ In this task he 
was interrupted by the sessions of the 
Convention of 1776, in which he sat 
as a delegate from Prince George 
county, where his estateof" Jordan's" 
lay, and here also he was placed on 

* " I am sorry to grate your ears with a truth 
but must at all events nssure you that the Provin 
cial Congress of New York are angels of decision 
when compared with your countrymen, the Com- 
mittee of Safety af^sembled at Williamsburg 
Page, Lee, Mercer, and Payne are indeed ex 
cepiions; but from Pendleton, Bland, the Treas 
urer, and Compnny — libera nos Domiiie.'" — 
Major Gfneral Charles Lee to ]Vashin_^to)i^ 5 
April, 1776. It should be added that if ever 
Lee possessed any of the qualities usually at- 
tributed to Job, he was most successful in con- 
cealing them. 



29 



the leading committees to frame the 
stirring declarations of Virginia against 
British oppression, and the instrument 
under which Virginia was to become 
a State free from colonial dependence 
on a foreign country. Three months 
after the adjournment of the conven- 
tion he was stricken with apoplexy 
while walking the streets of Williams- 
burg, was carried to the residence of 
his friend, John Tazewell, and died on 
the 2Sth of October, 1776, in the sixty- 
eighth year of his age. * He was 
buried at ''Jordan's" November 7th. 

Richard Bland married March 21st, 
1729, Ann, only daughter and heir- 
ess of Peter Poythress, Gentleman, 
She was born December 13, 171 2, 
and died April 9, 1758, leaving a 
family of twelve children. f 

There are some sentences in this 
fragment that seem forerunners of the 
better known protests of the Revolu- 

^Grigsby, Conve7ition of 1776, 61. 

f'Bland Papers I., xiv. The supposition of 
Grigsby that Tazewell and Bland married sisters 
can not be admitted. 



30 

tionary days against Great Britain. 
The principle involved later became 
prominent, and so the tract has more 
than a passing or local interest. 

WORTHINGTON C FoRD. 

Brooklyn^ December, i8go. 



A MODEST AND TRUE STATE OF THE 
CASE. 

By y last letter I find that you have 
heard of the Dispute between the L — t 
G — r* and People of Virginia occa- 
sioned by a Demand which is lately 
made [by him upon the peoplefj of a 
Pistole as a Fee to the Governor for 
signing every Patent for Land granted 
from the Crown. J But whether this 
demand is legal or not is a question 
which occasions much debate. As it is 
looked upon by m.ost People to be ap- 
parently destructive to the Rights of 
the Subjects as well as to the Interest 
of his Majesty, I am persuaded a can- 

* Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddle. 

I Interlined. 

J Interlined are the words " as this Dispute is 
not rightly understood," but no mark showing 
where they are to be inserted. 
(31) 



32 

did and impartial inquiry into a matter 
of such great importance cannot be 
disagreeable to any Person however 
affected, especially as I shall treat the 
subject with a proper Deference to 
Persons in High Ofiices tho with that 
Freedom which the Laws of civil Lib- 
erty intitle me to. 

When G — D — -die came to the Gov- 
ernment in 175 1 there were near a 
Thousand Patents'^ made out ready 
for the seals arid more than the same 
number of surveyors' Certificates for 
Land entered in the Secretary's office 
with the King's Rights and all legal 
Fees upon which Patents ought to 
have issued long before. Whether 
this delay proceeded from [the unset- 
tled state of the government after L^- 
W. left the colony, or any other 
cause,*] it is not material at this time 



More than 1700" interlined. 



33 

to determine, as it is not essential 
[necessary*] to the resolution of the 
present enquiry [dispute]. But cer- 
tain it is that when the Government 
was settled in its original and natural 
order by the arrival of the present 
Governor, several People applyed for 
their Patent, [the clerk of the secre- 
taries office waited upon him with a 
large number of patents that he might 
sign them in order to their passing 
the seal, which the G — r refused to 
do and commanded that no patents 
should be brought him for signing 
till farther orders so that the office 
was shut for a considerable time*] 
but were told that they could not be 
signed till after the rising of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, 

And tho our former Governors never 
scrupled to sign Patents at any time, 

* Interlined. 



34 

yet as this Gentleman both in his 
private conversations and in his pubhc 
speeches gave the strongest assurances 
that he would make the true Interest of 
Virginia, which he called his Country y 
the great Rule of his administration, 
no Person ever enquired into the 
Cause of this stop being put to the 
Issuing of Patents, nor once suspected 
that it arose from any Private Consid- 
erations. But the whole Country en- 
tertained the most grateful sense of 
and placed the Highest Confidence in 
his declarations, and the General As- 
sembly themselves not only express 
[ed] their thanks in the most affection- 
ate addresses, But gave a much more 
[the most*] real and convincing Proof 
of their Esteem by a handsome and 
genteel Present. 

[The next day*] after the rising of 

* Interlined. 



35 

the General Assembly this profound 
mistery of state policy was unveiled 
and this great Secret disclosed, a Pis- 
tole was now demanded as a Fee for 
the Governor from all Persons without 
which no Patent was to issue tho every 
requisite necessary by Law had been 
performed. This Conduct alarmed 
the Country and has had such per- 
nicious Effects as to give even the 
most moderate amongst us strong 
prepossessions against all the future 
measures of the present Administra- 
tion. 

In order to vindicate this step and 
conciliate the People to this measure 
it is said that it is trifling — [this being 
in a case relative to the granting the 
Crown Lands the council have a power 
to impose this fee.*] That the Gov- 
ernors of the other Colonies have a 

^Interlined. 



36 

Fee in all such cases and why may not 
our Governor have the same {especially 
as he has provided a great seal at his 
own expense.^) 

Notwithstanding these Reasons, the 
Opinion of the People is not altered, 
and as I am one of those with whom 
they have no weight and will not bely 
my own Conscience, nor stoop so 
wretchedly low as to embrace princi- 
ples which appear to me to be subver- 
sive of the Rights and Liberties of my 
Country, I will attempt to examine 
the force of these Reasons and the 
Rectitude [of] this measure. It (is 
nof^) pretended that the [^Demand is 
legal, if it wereY' [Council have power 
to impose this tax upon the Peoplejf 
that in itself would be a sufficient 
argument in support of it, and I dare 
venture to affirm would be submitted 

* Pen run through these words. 
f Interlined. 



37 

to with the most profound and awful 
reverence by the whole country. It 
must then be taken for granted that 
there is no Law to support this de- 
mand and I fancy the arguments in 
its favor will not be found sufficient 
to prove the Reasonableness of it. 
[But they could not be redressed, the 
natural Guardians of their Liberties 
were just prorogued. However they 
resolved [ J so that no 

person except those whose necessities 
forced them [ ]. 

The Rights of the Subjects are so 
secured by Law that they cannot be 
deprived of the least part of their 
property without their own consent. 
Upon this Principle of Law, the Lib- 
erty and Property of every Person 
who has the felicity to live under a 
British Government is founded. The 
Question then ought not to be about 
the smallness of the demand but the 



38 

Lawfulness of it. For if it is against 
Law, the same Power which imposes 
one Pistole may impose an Hundred, 
and this not in one instance only but 
in every case in which this Leviathan 
of Power shall think fit to exercise its 
authority. 

Liberty & Property are like those 
precious Vessels whose soundness is 
destroyed by the least flaw and whose 
use is lost by the smallest hole. Im- 
positions destroy their Beauty nor are 
they to be soldered by patch-work 
which will always discover and fre- 
quently widen the original Flaw. 

This shews the Iniquity of every 
measure which has the least tendency 
to break through the legal Forms of 
government and the expediency, nay 
the necessity of opposing in a legal 
way every attempt of this sort which 
like a small spark if not extinguished 
in the beginning will soon gain ground 



39 

and at last blaze out into an irresistable 
Flame. 

Ship-money was not opposed be- 
cause of the demand but because of 
the illegality of it. For the share of 
that Great Man who first appeared 
against it did not amount to more 
than thirty shillings. Yet he resolved 
to stand in the Gap and by refusing to 
pay it to venture a trial the event of 
which was to point out to the subjects 
what they had to trust to and for this 
(tho his future Conduct was highly 
blamable) he is remembered with 
Honour by Posterity. Thus it ap- 
pears that this Tax is indefensible 
upon this reason even if it was true 
that the demand is trifling. But 
surely a Tax which will produce 1700 
Pistoles almost in an instant and 5 
or 6 hundred more annually cannot 
in truth be called a triffle especially 
in a country where those People who 



40 

are to pay it are for the most part 
very Poor. 

Neither will Precedent from the 
other Colonies make the Case one jot 
better. For if their Governors de- 
mand a F.ee for every Public instru- 
ment they sign and they have no Law 
for such demand, they certainly do 
wrong, they demand that which the 
Law does not give them & therefore 
are guilty of taking from the subjects 
without legal auchority. If they have 
a Law which entitles them to such a 
Fee then they have a Right to it, so 
that let the case as to the other Col- 
onies be what it will, their Practices 
ought not to be produced to support 
this demand amongst us, and as they 
are Governed by different and inde- 
pendent Laws Precedents from them 
cannot be binding or obligatory upon 
Government. 

The other Reason, the Expense of 



41 

the Great seal, is too triffling to deserve 
an answer but if one is thought neces- 
sary I would ask what People are 
there upon Earth who if they are free 
and I hope we are so would make so 
stupid and rediculous a bargain as to 
be at the annual expense of 7 or 8 
hundred Pounds for a seal which does 
not cost more than 40 or 50, especially 
too when it is not wanted, for it is 
notorious that the old seal is better 
and of greater value than the new one 
and therefore it must appear very un- 
reasonable that a new seal should be 
forced upon the Country at this time 
when it is not wanted, and at so ex- 
travagant an advance when in truth it 
is not to be provided at their expense. 
Such a Conduct in private Life would 
certainly be contrary to the first Prin- 
ciples of Justice. But I suppose it 
changes its nature in public transac- 
tions tho the manner of its doing it is 
to me inexplicable. 



42 

Upon such slight Pretences is this 
new and mighty addition of Perquisite 
founded and such are the arguments 
which are advanced in support of a 
Demand which I think is contrary to 
the Law and Principles of the Consti- 
tution and which I will now attempt 
to prove to be so. 

King James the first in the year 
1609 by Letters Patent under the 
Great seal of England granted all the 
Lands in Virginia to the Treasurer 
and Company of Adventurers, and 
gave them Power to make, ordain and 
establish all manner of Laws, Orders, 
Directions, Instructions, Forms and 
Ceremonies of Government andMajes- 
tracy fit and necessary for and con- 
cerning the Government of the said 
Colony and Plantation, and from Time 
to Time to distribute convey, assign 
and set over such particular portions 
of Lands, Tenements and Heredita- 



43 

ments unto his Majesty's subjects as 
by the said Company should be nom- 
inated, appointed and allowed.* 

* End in the middle of a sheet. Endorsed in 
T. J's. MS. "A letter on Govr. Dinwiddle's 
Claim of a pistole for signing patent, by Colo, 
Richd. Bland. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 444 534 Q 




